Defense Secretary withdraws plea deal with 9/11 defendants
CBSN
A plea deal reached this week with the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, along with two of his alleged accomplices, has been retracted, the Pentagon announced Friday.
In a memo, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the "three pre-trial agreements" approved with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad — the man accused of planning the attacks — and Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, had been rescinded.
The memo was addressed to retired Brigadier Gen. Susan Escallier, the convening authority for military commissions who oversaw the deal. Austin wrote that he was withdrawing her "authority" in the case and reserving "such authority to myself."
An American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday night while coming in for a landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. The Black Hawk helicopter was carrying a crew of three. Officials said early Thursday that everyone on board both aircraft is believed dead, which would make it the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly a quarter century.